All posts tagged gene

Angelina Jolie’s widely-read NYT piece revealing her double mastectomy has raised much attention to the power of genetic screening to predict cancer risks.

It has also helped push up the shares of Myriad Genetics, a company that owns the exclusive rights to 24 U.S. patents used in genetic screening for breast and ovarian cancer. The company’s BRACAnalysis test, which can identify genetic mutations that lead to these cancers, has become by far its biggest business: it pulled in almost 82% of its 2012 revenue of $496 million. That is up from total company-wide revenue of just $71 million in 2005. The company’s revenues from this kind of diagnostic testing have grown at double-digit rates every year since 1996.

Myriad says the BRACAnalysis test, which costs around $3,340, is covered by all the major health insurers and managed care organizations in America. The kind of public awareness coming from high-profile cases like that of Ms. Jolie today is good news for the company, whose shares are up about 3% today and 20% in the last week (it released positive quarterly results on May 7).